Dead States | Year Zero | Nebraska

by Marty Brockschmidt

  The mask was screwed to the face of each of the dead. Next they slid canvas work gloves over the hands, held them in place with a zip tie and finished by wrapping the fingers together with duct tape. The last thing they did was fashion a harness out of rope and forced them into a stall and tied them into place.

  As Crystal was teasing the last pair down the ramp, Hank commented, “You know Chet you would think they would catch on as to what is going to happen.”

  Chester chuckled, “Best entertainment I've had in a while.”

  Once the last of the dead was placed in the barn and the doors had been secured with chains and padlocks, Crystal spray painted a final warning, 'Caution Dead Inside'.

  “Do you really think anybody is coming along to see that?”, Amy asked.

  “I doubt it, but I do believe there are people out there.”, Crystal answered.

  The following morning Tobin was up early getting the party meal prepared. As he worked on the BBQ he almost felt guilty. It had been less than three weeks since they had fled to this out of the way resort, to escape the outbreak of rising dead. He should be mourning the loss of family and friends, scared for the future or at least missing all those little things he use to take for granted. While all of that was in the back of his head at this very moment he was as happy as he has ever been in his life.

  It had been his dream for a long time to open a modest little bistro. A place he could treat folks to simple straight forward food. It was a fucked up twist of fate, but he had that little restaurant now. The only dream that he had held longer was to go on a date with Crystal. Such was his passion for her, he had often thought that he would give up the world for just one date with her. He never thought the world would actually have to end for the two of them to get together.

  Up in the clinic Doc Linderman was looking after his latest patient, Doug Myers, the second person to undergo an emergency amputation. Up until Lou Miller, Doc was convinced the only way to survive a bite from one of the dead, was a bullet to the brain. For that matter the only way to die like a person should, was a bullet to the brain. Considering the alternative, losing an arm or leg was a small price to pay.

  Crystal paid Doc a visit, but seeing Doug awake stopped to visit with him, “Well Mister Myers its good to see your coming along.”

  Doug considered her a moment before responding, “Hey your that one that took my leg, ain't ya?”

  “Yes it was me”, Crystal confirmed with a little trepidation.

  “Well come over here and give an old man a hug. Doc tells me you saved my life young lady.”

  Crystal gave him a quick hug and then held his hand a moment, “It was a team effort.”

  Doc walked in, “Checking up on your patient I see,”

  Crystal laughed, “Strictly your territory. Is Doug going to be able to come to the party this evening?”

  “Doc you gotta let me go I've been smelling that barbecue all morning. Don't take offense, but this hospital food sucks”, Doug pleaded jokingly.

  Doc burst out laughing,“I'm sure we can work that out, but I am going to want you to come back here afterward for a few more days of observation.”

  “You got a deal Doc.”, Doug agreed.

  “Doug I'll see you this evening. Doc have you got a minute?”, Crystal asked.

  “Let's step out and let Doug rest up for his big night.”, Doc suggested.

  As Doc closed the door to Doug's room he turned to Crystal, “I'm pretty sure I know what your after. I got to admit I'm more than a little afraid to face those things.”

  “You're the only doctor we have, I would never put you at risk. As much as possible we'll be your eyes, ears and hands, but the more we can learn about what makes these things tick the better. We need you Doc.”, Crystal answered back.

  “Doug is out of the woods now. Does tomorrow work?”, offered Doc.

  “That will be perfect, we'll head out first thing in the morning.”, Crystal replied smiling broadly as the plan continued to come together.

  Later in the day Ivy, her daughters Shelly and Sherry, Amy, Cassie, and Crystal met up with Cynthia and Amelia to get ready for the party. Cynthia and Amelia had the best collection of makeup and party clothes. While all of the women appreciated the opportunity to primp for the party, Amy and Cassie were the special projects.

  Amy and the Brenner twins had really bonded over the last few days, but with Cassie, Amy felt a special kinship. Matt Brenner's wife was an ER Nurse working the night shift. Two rival gang members that had been involved in a shootout were brought into her ER. One of the men seeing his rival caught hold of a scalpel and went to finish him. Matt's wife came in to check their vitals and got her throat slit for her trouble.

  Matt broke down after his wife died and threw himself into his work, leaving the twins to spend considerable time on the base with their grandfather, Colonel Osgood. Cassie had grown from a child to a young woman predominantly in the company of soldiers. She had confided to Amy that it was her grandfather that went with her to buy her first bra and feminine napkins.

  Amy could relate to this since her father was a career soldier and was frequently reassigned to different locations. Eventually her mother was unable to handle this constant change and left Amy and her father. Amy too grew up around soldiers and knowing little else joined the service when she was eighteen. Both Amy and Cassie new a lot about weapons, survival and duty, but little about makeup, hair styles, and fancy dress. Cassie was hoping to use the party to get the young men in our group to stop treating her like one of the guys and Amy of course wanted to capture Matt's attention.

  As Amelia took the three young women off to help them get ready Cynthia turned to Amy, “Don't worry honey, Myles might have been twenty years older than me, but he was quite the eligible bachelor and I had some serious competition.”

  Choking up for a second as the pain of Myles passing swept through her, then regaining her composure Cynthia joked, “Matt doesn't stand a chance.”

  Cynthia and Amelia had made a real transformation on Amy and Cassie. Cassie who's jet black hair matched her fathers, was normally pulled back in a pony tail, now cascaded in waves down to her shoulders. Amelia completed Cassie's look with a simple summer dress, discreetly applied makeup and traded out her tennis shoes with strap sandals.

  Cynthia's work on Amy was even more dramatic. Amy never wore make up and always hid her figure with oversized fatigues. Cynthia had given Amy a long green halter dress that not only accentuated her lithe figure but complimented her green eyes and red hair. Amy kept her hair short, it was just easier and more fitting for military life, but Cynthia had tricks for that as well. If Matt didn't take notice of her plenty of other men most certainly would.

  Crystal was feeling a little under dressed as she accompanied Amy and Cassie down to meet up with Matt and Tobin. However, as captain of the militia she had to be careful of the image she presented. Upon reaching the lobby they found Matt and Travis waiting, but there was no sign of Tobin.

  Cassie seeing her father ran up to Matt and exclaimed, “Well Daddy what do you think.”

  “Cassandra I think you look absolutely lovely and your mother would be very very pleased.”, Matt gushed.

  Amy shrunk back a bit at the mention of Matt's deceased wife, but Cassie pulled her up, “Daddy say hello to Amy, you remember her don't you?”

  Matt turned towards Amy, did a double take and then his eyes went from her head to her feet and back up, “Yes I do, your father hasn't got that old yet. Good evening Miss Landers, I must say this is quite the change from the drill instructor we first met.”

  “Good evening to you to Matt and please, call me Amy.”, Amy replied demurely extending her hand.

  Matt gently squeezed her hand and then put out his arm, “Amy would you care to join us for dinner.”

  Crystal found Tobin outside speaking to Nana. She walked up slipped her hand into his and their fingers automatically interlocked.

  “Nana would you mind if I steal him
away?”, Crystal asked the older woman.

  “Mercy no. You two run along. Tobin don't worry, I got this covered. If you could of seen me serving up Thanksgiving dinner to my brood, you would know that serving this crowd is a piece of cake.”, Nana cajoled.

  “Alright, alright. Thank you Nana I appreciate this.”, Tobin expressed smiling broadly.

  Tobin lead Crystal off looking for a free table towards the outside of the courtyard. As they walked his thumb caressed small circles on the back of her hand. Before the couple could reach a secluded table Bill Parsons wife Sara stormed up.

  In a loud drunken tone Sara confronted Crystal, “Hey you, is this how you lead. Stick my Bill on patrol and you're here taking it easy.”

  “Mrs. Parsons I am sure I don't need to explain anything to you, but Bill is the one who set the schedule. He'll be done shortly and I'll need to leave halfway through the evening.”, Crystal retorted.

  “Whatever bitch.”, Sara stated and stormed off.

  “Well, she's a sweetheart.”, Tobin exclaimed as they took their seats.

  “That's Bill Parsons wife, she has been trying to stir up trouble ever since I got voted in over Bill. The real shame is Bill is a really decent guy.” Crystal responded.

  “You know you could of probably pulled rank and got out of watch duty.”, Tobin suggested.

  “I'm sorry I was going to tell you about the patrol schedule, but I have to do these things. The only way I can ask others to take the risks involved is if I know what those are. I'll only be gone a couple of hours, the rest of the time I'm your girl.”, Crystal stated apologetically.

  “I'll muddle through somehow, but I think you are going to owe me for this.”, Tobin joked.

  After Dinner Mac thanked everyone who had participated in the preparations for the party followed by a general thank you to everyone for working so hard to get us this far. He then called up Sergeant Andrews to personally thank him and his men for bringing us to this location.

  Tobin and Crystal finished the evening with a walk by the lake. They took a seat on the ground against a large tree. For a while they gazed at the reflection of the moon on the water and listened to the sounds of the lake. Eventually Tobin caressed Crystal's cheek with his fingertips. Slowly he ran his fingers through her hair and then leaned in for a kiss. Crystal ran her hand up behind his head and pulled him tighter.

  Crystal allowed the kiss to linger a moment and then asked, “Do you ever think about our future?”

  “I'm kinda living in the moment. I basically got the restaurant I've always wanted and I couldn't ask for more eager patronage. I am a bit surprised that I'm dating the sheriff.”, Tobin responded.

  Laughing Crystal replied, “No I meant the bigger picture, our little group, the human race.”

  “That is why I'm taking it moment to moment. When we were in Lexington it was really scary. There were so many dead. Then there was Ed, one second he was running his mouth and the next he was having his throat ripped out. You see what I mean we can go from safe to in trouble in an instant. I'm not ready to roll over and I don't think anyone else here is either. It will be a struggle, but I think we got a shot. Compared to most of the rest of any survivors out there I would think we have a pretty sweet setup here. The dead are one problem, but if other survivors find out about us and what we have here. There is no telling what they will do to have this.”

  While the militia was making ready to take Doc to examine the dead they were holding captive at the lab site, Sergeant Andrews and his men were making their final preparations for leaving. Crystal went to them to say her goodbyes and to thank Sergeant Andrews for rescuing her.

  Then going to Slinger, she pulled out the shell casing she always wore around her neck, “I'll think of you every time I look at this. Keep yourself safe out there.”

  “I'll do my best. We got a good team here. You've come a long way since that little town in Iowa, I'm proud of you kiddo.”, Slinger replied giving Crystal a quick hug.

  Crystal stepped back, “You all are staying for breakfast aren't you?”

  Sergeant Andrews smiled, “Not one of us can cook worth a toot. We wouldn't dream of leaving before then.”

  Doc's examination of the captive dead fortunately went without incident. Doc had an extensive list of tests that he had worked up and insisted on running them on the entire bakers dozen of dead. It took an entire day to run the complete set of tests and by the time Doc was done everyone was exhausted. In part due to the physicality required to constrain the dead, but mostly due to the expenditure of nervous energy worrying that at any moment something would go wrong.

  By the time they arrived back the evening meal had been served and cleared away. However, Tobin kept something warm for them. Doc took his tray back to the clinic anxious to go over the test results and try to make sense of something that could not be. The rest of them ate together in the dining room and Tobin joined them taking a seat next to Crystal..

  They ate in silence, trying to internalize what they had witnessed, eventually Amy hit on a safe topic, You know Cap, with Andrews and the others gone there are some rooms available.”

  “Thank you Amy. Would you show me around after dinner.”, Crystal answered.

  “Sure, glad to.”, responded Amy

  Crystal squeezed Tobin's hand, “Care to join us in a little apartment hunting.”

  The staff building was two stories tall and had four small apartments on each floor. The first floor also had a commons room that was being converted over to the main security office. Cameras and motion detectors placed around the fence and public areas were all in process of being wired into monitors setup in the office.

  Mick was the only person on staff that stayed at the resort year round. The temporary staff had left the resort, as news of the outbreak was released. The Braun's, Percy and Mae, were the only quests, at the time and Mick had moved them into an apartment next to his. Blade and Amy each had an apartment up on the second floor.

  All of the apartments were basically the same, in the end it boiled down to who Crystal was going to pick as neighbors. Crystal chose the apartment that was across the hall from Percy and Mae and nearest to the security office. This way she was both close to her mentor and readily available if an emergency came in. With Crystal's choice made Amy excused herself for the evening and Tobin helped Crystal retriever here belongings from the McPherson unit.

  As they put away her scant belongings Tobin queried Crystal, “I didn't want to ask while everyone was around, but something certainly had you all on edge.”

  Crystal shook her head to indicate her confusion as she answered, “Toby its just all this has happened so fast. We all had to quickly adjust to the reality that the dead were walking among us. When Doc started running his tests it became clear how impossible this reality is. We're all asking ourselves all sorts of questions. Is this an experiment gone horribly wrong, a bio-weapon sent to wipe us out, or are we being punished for our sins?”

  Tobin guided Crystal onto the couch before responding, “All good questions, which we will probably never have an answer to. All we can do is keep taking on what's in front of us.”

  “I guess. I'm just so tired, I'm getting a bit loopy.”, Crystal responded wearily.

  Tobin placed a pillow on his lap and had Crystal lay down. Crystal fell fast asleep, just moments after she rested her head, with Tobin stroking her hair. Tobin stayed put for a long while, not wanting to disturb her. Eventually he slipped out quietly and headed back to his own room, for the remainder of the night.

  A couple of days later Doc asked the council to convene so he could present his results. “I'm not sure I have a lot of answers, but let's start with what I do know. All thirteen of those things that I examined showed consistent results. There was no detectable heart beat, respiration, or pupil response and their body temperature matched room temperature. Based on that alone I would say they were dead, if it weren't for the fact it took two strong men to hold them, while I examined them.
Judging by their reactions I would say they are able to see, hear and smell. I have no way of testing how keen those senses are. I also did not record any reaction that indicated individualism to me. Their bodies didn't show any of the normal signs of decomposition, nor did they show any healing of their wounds. It is hard for me to admit this, but I have to say they are reanimated dead.”

  Doc cleared his throat, obviously a bit uncomfortable with what he was going to say next, “The rest that I have to say is hypothesis or educated guesses. The fever that comes from the bite of a walker is a red herring. Initially I wanted to tie that disease to the reanimation, but we've all witnessed cases of reanimation without death being caused from a bite. So the fever from the bite and the reanimation are two separate events. I am suggesting that the disease spread through the bite has existed in the human population for quite some time, but has always been held in check by a living bodies immune system. It has just been sitting there waiting for reanimated bodies to spread it. Animals have been feeding on the bodies available to them and we have yet to see diseased birds or dogs from this. So I am not expecting to see the disease jump to other species, that is good news. One other thing I checked was the patella reflex, I tapped their knee to see if their knee jerked. None of them had a patella reflex action. This is a simple test of basic neurological function. It is an automatic function of the body and helps a person maintain balance. In regards to the dead it is an indication that the nervous system is short circuited as well.”